* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The plot can easily be reframed as "local two-tailed kitsune narrowly survives being accidentally firebombed by a duck warlord's army, retaliates with guerrilla warfare with all the improvised explosive devices he can make, and is aided by a support UAV and pocket submarine".
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Poloy Forest's theme.
* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Best Level Ever]]: Ironically, Lake Rocky is one of the best parts of the game considering the reputation [[ThatOneLevel most water levels]] have in the rest of the series. It helps that you get a cool submarine packed with weapons, and that you'll never drown thanks to its canopy and on-board oxygen supply.
* FanNickname: The Battle Kukku Empire members are sometimes referred to by fans as "bird Nazis". It helps that Archie Comics portray them as [[FantasticRacism militaristic speciesists who believed only birds are meant to fly]].
* FashionVictimVillain: Battle Kukku XVI, or Speedy, has been mocked by fans for the EggshellClothing he wears on the lower half of his body, which many have said looks like more like a giant diaper.
* GameBreaker: In the Sea Fox levels, the Spark and Mirror Armor items are ''ridiculously'' good to have. The former produces [[ElectrifiedBathtub a powerful electric charge through the water that instantly wipes out on-screen enemies and obstacles]] with little-to-no cooldown[[note]]Since there's no water in the sky, though, [[LogicalWeakness don't use it on the Battle Fortress flying section]][[/note]], and the latter produces [[DeflectorShields a very strong force field]] that can stop most hazards in their tracks, killing enemies on contact and lasting until you leave the screen... at which point you can just immediately activate it again for all the protection a two-tailed fox could ever want.
* GoodBadBugs: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsQJWEsxyE8 Thanks to a bug]], it's possible for the player to go through the lake tunnel that leads to Coco Island again and be deposited onto the level's space on the map despite the Battle Fortress existing, allowing them to replay it. This technically averts the PermanentlyMissableContent that would have applied otherwise (considering the Teleport Device and Yellow Chaos Emerald can be found there but easily missed), but the developers intended for that trope to apply.
* MemeticPsychopath: Tails's frequent use of cartoonish weapons in this game usually gets a pass. Using ''Napalm Bombs'' as well?! Needless to say, that didn't fly unnoticed. On top of that, he uses the Remote Robot to drop a heavy rock on the head of Dr. Fukurokov (the Kukku Army's lead scientist) and implicitly kill him. Johnny of WebVideo/BrainScratchCommentaries [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZOnzCn-EOU took things even further]].
* ScrappyWeapon: The Knuckles Item. Although punching enemies sounds awesome in theory, it only in practice serves to put you in danger, due to its very short range and ineffective damage output. Once you've got the Triple Bomb, you basically have no reason to use it besides curiosity.
* SelfImposedChallenge: Beating the game with only one Chaos Emerald collected.[[note]]The one the game forces on you at Polly Mountain 1.[[/note]] This leaves you with only 20 HP and a 6-second flight timer[[note]]This can be circumvented by immediately pressing the jump button to re-fly as you start to fall.[[/note]] to tackle the rather relentless latter half of the game. A total low-item completion run -- using only the mandatory equipment such as the Remote Robot, Night Vision, and the Wrench -- is also possible, to a point; [[MacrossMissileMassacre the underwater cannon gauntlet]] that leads to Kukku Island is brutally punishing to the point that getting through without the [[NighInvulnerable Mirror Armor]] is almost impossible.
* ThatOneBoss: The first encounter with Speedy is particularly annoying because it's a vertical ascent where if he hits you or you bump into spikes, you might fall a long way before you can start going up again, and there's an esoteric glitch where you might fall out of the stage and get ejected to the world map for no good reason; meaning you have to hike all the way back there to try again. On the bright side, you do at least get a guaranteed [[HeartContainer Chaos Emerald]] out of it as a reward for slogging through.
* {{Woolseyism}}: While the game's Japanese story ''does'' explain why Tails is much slower and does not spin -- since there, [[{{Prequel}} he was still yet to meet Sonic]] and therefore hadn't learned how to move like he does -- the Western story makes a lot more sense when you consider certain things. Tails logically should not have been easy prey for Dr. Robotnik after already taking out an entire army on his own, obtaining medallions of people he's never met doesn't make sense, and him being on vacation -- and ultimately embarking on his own solo mission in the meantime -- would also explain Tails' absence in ''VideoGame/SonicBlast''. That said, however, most Western audiences (and Sega themselves over the years) prefer calling the island the game takes place on "Cocoa Island" per the Japanese version (instead of the much sillier-sounding [[{{Egopolis}} "Tails Island"]] in the English manual), so elements from both takes on the story do tend to overlap.
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